Google employees complain of smaller salary hikes in recent all-hands meeting: report

Google employees expressed concerns over smaller salary increases during an all-hands meeting, despite strong company performance.

Google employees questioned company leadership about smaller salary hikes at a recent all-hands meeting, Business Insider has reported.

Sundar Pichai is the CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet.(AFP)

Google’s compensation structure generally includes a base salary, equity awards, and, in some cases, bonuses. At Google’s monthly TGIF meetings, employees get the chance to submit and vote on questions for leadership. This week, one of the top-voted questions centred on why some employees saw a drop in their refreshed stock grants and overall compensation, even as the company delivered strong financial results.

According to a transcript of the meeting shared with Business Insider, some employees expressed frustration over smaller pay bumps.

Google's response

John Casey, Google's VP of global compensation and benefits, answered the question at the all-hands meeting. He reportedly informed employees that over 80% of Google staff saw a year-on-year increase in their 2025 compensation.

However, he noted that some Googlers in less technical roles in certain locations received smaller equity packages this year to align pay with local market conditions.

A Google spokesperson also told Business Insider that the company aligns its salaries to local markets. This is a stance that Google has maintained for years. In 2021, a company spokesperson told Reuters: “Our compensation packages have always been determined by location, and we always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works from.” The Google spokesperson added that employees’ pay differs from city to city and state to state.

Casey also said that Google’s compensation structure is set up to reward high performers.

However, the issue of smaller salary hikes has clearly left some employees frustrated. On the anonymous workplace forum Blind, one person claiming to be a Google employee said that raises at the company are “sh**” and that he himself received a hike of just 3% - which barely keeps up with the increasing cost of living. The person called this salary hike a “spit in the face.”